The Exotic Pet Challenge

Retailers that deal in exotic pets must navigat through a jungle of regulations. Here is an interesting article from Pet Business magazine in regards to the many challenges facing the exotic pet industry

Check out the article Exotic Challenge

How Spaying Helps Your Dog Stay Healthy

Here are some tips from the Dog Age website about the health factors in spaying your dog:

If you could do one thing to help your precious little Lucy stay healthy, you'd do it in a heartbeat, right? So if you haven't done so already, ask your vet about spaying your pet.

Here are the ways it could help your pup's well-being and give you some peace of mind:

* No worries about reproductive cancers. Since the ovaries and uterus are surgically removed, there's no chance of tumors growing in the reproductive tract.
* Your dog won't be in heat. "Heat," or estrus, is a female dog's mating period. During this time, which occurs every 3 to 6 months and lasts up to 4 weeks, dogs will have vaginal bleeding -- that's something you'll have to deal with. And because your pet wants a ready-and-willing male, she may wander off in the neighborhood to find one. If the thought of your pooch on the prowl makes you squirm, picture frisky hounds howling at your door!
* A much lower risk of breast cancer. Animals spayed before their first heat cycle (usually at 6 to 9 months of age) have substantially lower odds of developing breast cancer.
* No uterine infections. Spaying a dog at any age eliminates infections of the uterus, which can be quite serious.

Spaying also helps to reduce pet overpopulation.

Sugar Glider

Anytime I see a unique pet, I'm always intrigued...usually to the point of wanting one. At a recent pet expo, I came across a dealer selling Sugar Gliders. What are Sugar Gliders? According to Pocket Pets of Dallas, Sugar Gliders are small, aboreal marsupials which originate primarily from Indonesia and Southern Australia. As their common name implies, they possess a gliding membrane (similar to that of the flying squirrels) that stretches from their wrists to their ankles and allows them to 'glide' from tree to tree. As with all marsupials, female sugar gliders also possess a pouch, in which they raise their young. Sugar gliders are nocturnal animals, which spend almost their entire life in trees.

Sugar Gliders can make excellent pets. They adapt very readily to captivity and can develop very strong relationships with their human keepers. They are small in size, and are very intelligent and love to play. They are very smart and have a long life span, most living to be 10 years or older if taken care of properly. Although nocturnal, it can be a benefit, in that they want to play in the evening when you are at home, and if you take them with you in the daytime, they are content to sleep in your pocket or pouch. Most gliders, if handled well and given time, learn their owner(s) scent(s) and have absolutely no fear of them.

Their diet consists of fruit, fresh vegetables, wholemeal bread, yogurt, peanuts, high protein dry food, and supplemented occasionally with mealworms, meatmeal or hard-boiled eggs.

According to the company, they get along well with other household pets...though I'm worried my dogs might think of them as another new toy.

Potbellied Pigs: An Allergy-free Pet

Ok, I didn't write this myself, but found an interesting article about an allergy free pet alternative. I know....it's a pig....but the article makes me want to get one.

http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/potbelliedpigsanallergyfreepet

Salmonella from pet turtles sickens 103 in '07

Ok, so I've wanted a turtle for some time now. But Mrs. Pet Haven always cautioned me that you could get diseases from turtles. I never really knew if she was making that up, but as it turns out, she's right. According to a recent report, contact with small pet turtles was to blame for 103 Salmonella infections that occurred in 33 states between May and December 2007, according to federal health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.

Salmonella infections can be severe, leading to hospitalization and, in some cases, death, the CDC notes.

Turtles and other reptiles are well-known reservoirs for Salmonella and while the sale and distribution of small turtles — measuring less than 4 inches — was officially outlawed in the U.S. in 1975, cases of turtle-associated Salmonella infection continue to occur.

Roughly half of the Salmonella infections documented in the 2007 outbreak occurred in young children, who are at greater risk for severe illness from Salmonella infection.

The CDC's investigation into the outbreak also revealed that in a subset of 60 infected individuals interviewed, only one fifth were aware of the link between Salmonella infection and contact with reptiles.

According to the CDC, direct or indirect contact with reptiles causes an estimated 6 percent of all human Salmonella infections in the U.S. People who come in contact with reptiles, reptile habitats, or surfaces contaminated with reptile feces need to remember that they risk Salmonella infection, CDC officials caution.

Small Pets - Big Business

The American Pet Products Manufacturers Assn.’s 2007-2008 National Pet Owners Survey shows that 6 million households in the U.S. share their homes with some 22.8 million small pets, a 25 percent increase since 2004.

Mice, hamsters, rats, guinea pigs, chinchillas, rabbits, ferrets, sugar gliders, hedgehogs and degus, are proving that even if a creature is tiny, doesn't mean it's not loved.

And these pet owners are willing to spend money on their little buddies. The amount rabbit owners spent on toys, for example, quadrupled from $20 in 2004 to $83 in 2006. The dollars spent on nonsurgical veterinary care by guinea pig owners grew during that same time period from $28 to $58.

The fact that the "pocket-pet" segment of the industry is growing is of no surprise. It goes to show that the explosion of the pet industry is across the board, and not just in certain areas. In additional, smaller pets can be a bit easier to house, since they require less space, and usually less resources.